FAA Says Computer Problem Causing Massive Flight Delays
August 26, 2008 by national
Filed under Subscribers Only
Travelers are facing mass flight delays today as the result of a computer problem at the Federal Aviation Administration.
The Federal Aviation Administration said that one of its two systems that process flight plans is down on Tuesday, Aug. 26. All flight plans are now being handled out of Salt Lake City.
The FAA has two systems that process flight plans one located in Atlanta and the other one in Salt Lake City. But the Atlanta system went down at 1:30pm today, and all flight plans are now being handled out of Salt Lake City.
As a result, delays could pile up at airports across the country. Delays up to 90 minutes are already surfacing at several airports.
According to the FAA, about 6,500 airplanes are in FAA system, though the aviation agency has not said how many were in the sky and how many were on the ground when the problem occurred.
Boston is the currently affected by the problem, while New York City area airports are not feeling its effects. Still, with such a heavy volume of air traffic typically converging on the East Coast, delays could spread depending on how much time it takes to iron out the problem.
